Category: I

Treatment in which oxygen, water, or a drug is introduced into the respiratory tract with inhaled air. It may be used to provide oxygen or to administer drugs to liquefy mucus or dilate the bronchial passageways. The administration of medicines, water vapor, gases (e.g., oxygen, carbon dioxide, or helium), or anesthetics by inhalation. The medicines…

General anesthesia achieved by inhalation of an anesthetic gas or volatile liquid; widely used inhalation anesthetics include cyclopropane, halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane. A method of giving medication that is inhaled into the lungs as an anesthetic gas to suppress pain. Nitrous oxide, known as “laughing gas,” is an odorless, colorless gas that was one of…

Toenail whose free ends grow into, or become pressed into, the skin, causing inflammation and sometimes secondary infection. A toenail that grows into the surrounding skin or tissue of the toe. Symptoms include pain, swelling, redness, and the discharge of pus. Home care includes soaking the affected foot in warm water and placing a small…

Hair that does not emerge from the follicle but remains embedded in the skin, usually causing inflammation. A hair that reenters the skin, causing a foreign body reaction.  

Use of infrared radiation (e.g., in hot water bottles, heating pads, or incandescent lights) to relieve pain and increase blood circulation to a particular area of the body.  

Not flexible; unable to stretch; remaining the same length and tension.  

In obstetrics, artificial starting of the childbirth process by puncturing the amniotic sac surrounding the fetus or by administering a drag (oxytocin) to stimulate contractions of the muscles of the uterus. Labor may be induced to speed child¬ birth in cases of maternal or fetal distress, or electively (e.g., to avert the possibility of a…

Being such that a cure is currently impossible within the realm of known medical practice.    

Person who is mentally unable to make his or her own medical decisions, as well as to realize the possible consequences of these decisions; incompetent patients may have a legal guardian or durable power of attorney to assist in the management of their affairs.  

In anatomy, notch or small hollow.